Page 59 of Pride, Prejudice, & Pretense

She nodded, although he did not look up. "Tell me more about Georgiana, please. How did she end up involved with Wickham? Couldn't you warn her against him?"

Darcy did look up into her eyes then but with sadness in his. "No, you've got it backward. She warned me against him…at least in a manner of speaking."

Lizzy shook her head, confused. "What?" The flames died down.

"It was Georgiana who identified Wickham as a terrorist. Or I should say she suspected him and told me her suspicions. That's how I ended up on his trail and figured out he was the Wicker Man."

"Does he know she suspected him?"

"No, he doesn't. She would be in danger if he did. He underestimated her, her ability to keep secrets. Georgiana knew from the beginning of her time with Wickham that I would never approve of him." He smiled in recollection. "She and I often quarreled about her taste in men. It was the only difficulty between us. Loser after loser, shipwreck after shipwreck…at least from my point of view. And she had been sure Wickham would not like me, either." Darcy’s smile turned slightly menacing. "So she never mentioned having a stepbrother to him, kept me a secret. That turned out to be lucky. He'd never seen me until Rosings."

He stopped. When he started speaking again, it was in a cool, anticipatory, vengeful tone as he looked at the floor, obviously envisioning Wickham. "The satisfaction I most look forward to when we finish him is telling him that Georgiana was his downfall?that a woman he toyed with and worked to ruin turned out to behisruination. I willrelishthat!"

At this, Lizzy felt in her bones the mastery it had required for Darcy to swing at Wickham and deliberately miss the night before.Amazing self-control.

She heated up again.

"Does Charlie know all this…about Georgiana?" she asked, trying to force her thoughts into the daytime and out of the nighttime that might have been.

"No. He’s seen the pictures, but he never met Georgiana and I haven't told him who the blonde in the pictures is." He staredat the floor. "I didn't plan to tell anyone." His eyes flicked up to Lizzy's and back down, and then he shrugged. "I hoped to keep her out of this if it was possible. Only my boss at MI-6 and one analyst there have even seen those photographs. I asked to keep them out of circulation. My boss owed me, so he didn't ask why. She’s been hurt enough, and I'm determined?I've been determined?to protect her. She’s wrestling enough."

Lizzy had more questions about Georgiana, but she decided not to ask. "Should we talk to Charlie?" She pulled the laptop closer to her on the counter.

Darcy came around the counter and stood beside her, but he rested his hand on the top of the laptop, keeping it shut. She could smell his aftershave. Looking up into his eyes, Lizzy managed not to kiss him, discovering something about her own self-control.

After a moment, he breathed out a long, frustrated sigh. "Are we going to be able to do this, Elizabeth? Not just keep ourselves apart, but withstand the strain of your seduction of Wickham? Last night, the patio—" He inhaled. "I'm not sure I can miss him again…or witness his hands on you."

Lizzy wished she had put on more than a robe over her cami and sleep shorts. Her legs were displayed by the short robe. Darcy's eyes had not strayed to her legs, but he keptnot-lookingat them. He was obviously aware of them?veryaware?even if he would not let himself focus on them. And she was not-looking at him not-looking at them. She turned on the stool, using the counter to cover her legs as much as she could in hopes of curtailing all the not-looking.

"I don't wanthimto touch me ever again," she told Darcy, inflectinghimin a way that suggested that it contrasted withyou,with what she wanted Darcy to do. "Ever. But the job's the job. I won't…wewon't let it go too far. Who knows, maybe we're closer to being done with this than we know. Maybe Rapid Citywill pick up the pace." She shrugged beneath a smile and heard him laugh softly as she remained facing away from him.

She softened her voice. "We were both right last night, regardless of whether we fully understood the situation. If we give in tothis"?she turned and waved her index finger back and forth between them, observing her own gesture as if someone else were making it?"there's no way we are going to be able to complete the mission. Neither of us will…" She paused before giving her head a small shake and using the words that sprang to mind. "Neither of us will have the heart to go on with this."

She lifted her head, and her eyes met his. Their gazes remained locked together for an endless moment.

He nodded?the nod eloquent on many levels. He reached out with exquisite care and ran his hand down her jaw, moving slowly and softly along her cheekbone to her chin.

Then he dropped his hand. "Okay, enough." He spoke to himself, not her, giving himself an order. His jaw clenched, and he closed his eyes. "Enough. Open the laptop, Agent Bennet." He indicated the computer with his other hand, opening his eyes, "Let's talk to Agent Bingley."

Lizzy faced the screen and crossed her legs beneath the counter.

Self-control.

A minute later, Charlie, yawning cavernously, was on the screen.

"Sorry!" He put his hand in front of his mouth and spoke through it and the yawn. "I was up late and slept later than I intended because of it. But I have news. First, a team of two agents is on the ground in Rapid City. They’re ready to tail Wickham when he lands. He should be in the air by now." He paused and looked at his watch.

"Andsecond?" Darcy asked with a hint of impatience, the lingering cost of his self-control.

Charlie smiled. "Andsecond,we found out something about that phone number. Noteverything, but something."

"What do you mean?" Lizzy asked.

"The number is for a burner phone. But"?Charlie held up his hand, palm facing the screen—“We have an educated guess about whose it was. Fenton Fumerton."

"BangFumerton?" Lizzy recognized the name. Although she had never met the man, she had heard the name months ago in a general briefing.

"Yes," Charlie said. "The analysts believe Wickham's searching for explosives, a topflight bomb maker."

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